The Flying Classroom (1954)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Great Film overall

Absolutely the worst movie.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

"Das fliegende Klassenzimmer" or "Flying Classroom" is a West German black-and-white film from the years 1954 (the year when Germany won the Soccer World Cup for the first time), so this one already had its 60th anniversary a while ago. The title is still somewhat known today, but this is really more due to the novel by Erich Kästner, one of Germany's most successful authors ever, being so famous. As he was still very much alive and well back then, he was also the one who adapted his own novel for the screen here. The director of this 90-minute film was Kurt Hoffmann, a pretty successful filmmaker as well back then. But none of them could really manage to make it work unfortunately. I watched the recent adaptation starring Ulrich Noethen and I must say this old film is even more underwhelming than the new modern approach to Kästner's material. It is about two groups of children struggling with getting along. And in the face of all this, there is also a handful adults, teachers and parents with their own struggles. There are dramatic moments in here, like a boy getting injured severely, but it is still a family film and comedy during pretty much its entirety. But it is never funny unfortunately. The only parts I somewhat liked were the ones that gave us some nice holiday spirit and Christmas music. Other than these I found it an extremely forgettable film that dragged a whole lot on many occasions. 4 out of 10 is still pretty generous and I give this one a thumbs-down. Extremely underwhelming. watch something else instead.

Unlike some other German movies of the 1950s, this one is still worth watching. It is a true adaptation of Erich Kästner's children's' novel of the same name. The author did not only write the screenplay himself , but also appears in the first and last scene and provides the narrator's voice in several scenes. With a cast of prominent German actors of the time, notably Paul Dahlke and Paul Klinger, and budding rock'n'roll star Peter Kraus in his first movie role, the movie tells the story of the "Tertia" students (7th/8th grade) in a small town boarding school, who continue a "prehistoric" feud with the boys from a neighbouring school. Woven into this narrative are questions of honesty, courage, loyalty, friendship - and money issues, which never lack in Kästner's books. The boys also write and perform a play about the lessons with their favourite teacher, Johannes Böck called Justus (the just one) and moreover manage to bring him back together with a long-lost childhood friend. I was astonished to see the very good acting of the child actors, among them now famous German director Michael Verhoeven. Even though it's sometimes obvious that painted scenery is used and the editing is somewhat less varied than what we're used to these days, the movie never seems dated in a way that makes it an effort to watch - quite the contrary!

This is yet another film-version of an Erich Kaestner Classic. Kaestner is one of the most popular German children's book authors of the 20th century. Among many other works, he penned "Emil and the Detektives" and "The Parent Trap". The author always includes the theme of honor, friendship and loyalty in his stories.The setting here is an "Internat", a boarding school with strict rules and deep tradition. The upper class men are known to play pranks on the new students, and none of the teachers dare to interfere in student affairs. A side plot tells of an incident decades ago, involving a teacher who ended up living as a hermit, disillusioned with the world.The way teachers deeply cared about their students, and the respect given to them in return reminds of the "good old days", when the profession had fewer material rewards, yet was much more fulfilling.Look for a cameo appearance by the author in the closing scene, as he autographs his book for a young fan, played by Peter Kraus, who later emerged as a Teen Idol Rock & Roll Singer, becoming the German "Elvis". This is a very enjoyable movie. Those who are familiar with the times and the author will be very pleased.